The 7 into 9 gathered stitch takes 7 stitches, and increases these to 9 stitches. The increase is done in such a way, that it looks like the fabric is “gathered” in the middle. You may encounter gathers in Estonian lace knitting, they are a distinctive feature of this type of lace. Gathers come in many different configurations. In some versions, the stitch counts stay the same, in some the stitch counts decrease or increase.
Read on to see how the 7 into 9 gathered stitch is worked.
Materials used
Yarn: Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, here in the color 142 Tea Rose.
Knitting needles: This is a pair of straights that I picked up at the second-hand store when I started knitting, brand unknown.
Working the 7 into 9 gathered stitch step by step
- To start, work as instructed by your pattern until the point where you want to make the gather.
- First, insert your right-hand needle into the 4th stitch on the left-hand needle as if to purl.
- Next, pull this stitch over the 3 stitches near the tip, and off the needle.
- Repeat step 3 another 3 times for a total of 4 stitches that are pulled over the set of 3 stitches near the tip of the needle.
- Next, insert your right-hand needle into the first stitch on the left-hand needle as if to knit…
- … wrap the yarn around the needle …
- … and pull it through. Do not slip the stitch off the needle yet!
- Next, wrap the yarn around the needle.
- Repeat steps 5, 6 and 7, and slip the original stitch off the needle. In essence, you’re working a (k1, yo, k1) increase into the stitch. Check below for the result after this last step.
- Repeat steps 5 to 9 for each of the other 2 wrapped stitches. In other words: after these steps, you’ve worked (k1, yo, k1) in each of the 3 wrapped stitches, bringing the total stitch count up to 9 stitches.
After this, continue with your knitting as instructed in the pattern.
View the result, when the row has been finished and a purl row has also been worked, below. I think it’s pretty neat!
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